Bass Lake Fishing Contest

[AndyM]

I was at this contest and saw the guy running with the winning fish, what did he do to have to turn himself in? Obviously he must have cheated somehow. Does anybody have any info on this?

[outdoor ran]

SOMERSET, Wis. - A northern Wisconsin ice fishing contest ended with a big turnaround Tuesday, after suspicions about the catch caused the grand prize — a $27,000 Dodge pickup truck — to go to the runner-up instead of the initial winner.

At the end of Saturday's contest on Bass Lake in Somerset, Lee Shehow of New Richmond claimed to have caught the biggest fish, a northern pike weighing 2.42 pounds.

TV cameras were rolling when he was asked what he would do with the grand prize and replied: "Drive it like it's stolen."

But organizer John Montpetit said a tournament worker and an anonymous caller raised suspicions about the winner's soaked sweat shirt, and girls who sold refreshments told of the excessive amount of bottled water the man bought in the 14-degree weather.

Private investigators working for the tournament suspected the winning fish was smuggled in.

Under contest rules, the winner was offered the chance Sunday to take a lie detector test and refused, Montpetit said, and that meant the prize had to go to the runner-up, Monica Slimmer of La Crosse, who caught a northern pike weighing 1.72 pounds.

Montpetit said Shehow's only statement was that he did not want to cause controversy for the contest, a fundraiser for the Somerset Youth Athletic Association.

He said the St. Croix County Sheriff's Department now is looking into the matter.

Shehow denied cheating when interviewed by KARE-TV of Minneapolis-St. Paul. He said he caught the fish fairly and only gave up the prize because he didn't want to cause bad publicity for the youth athletic association and its kids.

"They'll get to the bottom of it and find out I didn't," he said. "It's just a matter of time."

Montpetit said Shehow declined an offer to appear at the news conference Tuesday, but Slimmer was there to collect her prize.

"She's such a sweetheart," Montpetit said. "She came all the way from La Crosse. She's just ecstatic."